Federal forces deploy to defend Brazil Indigenous territory from planned reinvasion

A federal judge in Brazil issued an emergency order on Oct. 23 to deploy security forces to the Apyterewa Indigenous Land in Pará state, Mongabay reported. The security deployment was aimed at protecting the territory after new evidence revealed plans by hundreds of former non-Indigenous occupants to reinvade the area on Oct. 25, the day of Brazil's presidential runoff election. [1]

The judicial order followed an urgent request submitted by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, Mongabay reported. Prosecutors documented specific threats of armed violence directed against the territory by the former illegal occupants. [1]

The Amazon rainforest encompasses 3,344 Indigenous territories and spans 6 million square kilometers, covering roughly 60 percent of Brazil's land area. As HEROIC BREAKING NEWS reported earlier, forest clearing in the Brazilian Amazon recently dropped by 42 percent to a record low of 3,335 square kilometers. [3][5][7]

Federal security forces were positioned in the Apyterewa Indigenous Land to deter armed incursions and preserve the safety of the local Indigenous population during the national election period, according to Mongabay. [1]